Port 5

Provided by the ASK Keyboard Dictionary

Also known as: socket 5, number 5 port, cable 5, number 5 cable

Port 5 is the name of the RS-485-based keyboard port available on IBM 4680 and 4690 series POS Terminals and their descendants such as IBM SurePOS 700 and TGCS TCx 700 series. The port is 8-pin SDL based on both the keyboard and host side, with a double-ended male cable between them. On the keyboard side for RPOS series Model Ms, the port is simply embossed as "5" on the bottom cover piece. On the host side, the port may be labelled with a letter such as "5A" in case there are multiple such ports available. Examples of other IBM/TGCS POS RS-485 SDL port numbers include 3 (cash drawer), 4 (primary display), 7 (printer) and 9 (scanner or secondary display). USB-based RPOS keyboards and the PS/2-based IBM PS/2 ANPOS Keyboard with Integrated Pointing Device may still have "5" embossed on them, but this is due to shared tooling and is not a nomenclature that applies to them in practice.

Sources

ASK. Admiral Shark's Keyboards original content. License/note: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.